Morena Speech on Nonviolent Education

Good afternoon everyone! I am really amazed to see a number of youth participating in this camp to promote non-violence from various parts of this country. This is the first time for me to engage with this many youths from different states of India and learn different culture spread out in this country.

I thank Mr.P.V.Rajagopal ji and Mrs.Jill Haris for inviting me for such a wonderful event and giving me an opportunity to share my ideas on nonviolent education.

Nonviolent education is a very important subject to be handled right now in a right way. Nonviolent education should be understood in two parallel factors. One is dealing education in nonviolent methods and the other is dealing with nonviolent education.

Today both, education and the way of learning are completely piled up with violence. Friends, think about our classrooms. Classrooms are the very first place where children learn to incorporate violence. If a child in our school system has committed any sort of mistake, then the immediate action is to assault the child verbally, psychologically or physically. And, this is the first lesson of violence that our classroom teaches us. When someone does something wrong or something unacceptable then he /she should be dealt with violence. Only violence can correct people.

Is this the right thing to do? We do not have a positive way of dialogue or conflict resolution in our classrooms and these results in handling a conflict with a friend or any other third person with violence, that’s how we are taught.

Similarly, what we learn is also full of violence. Today the global education system teaches us how to make money out of exploiting people and resources. Our natural resources are exploited in an alarming rate. We are being warned about global warming and climate change issues but we did not worry about reducing our fossil fuel usage. The education system is fully about how to make money without caring about anything that is around us. We learn environmental sciences but we compromise environment for the sake of development. This education has helped in creating more rich people and much more poor people with a great economical imbalance. The only destination of our education system is towards a conflict society.

Mahatma Gandhi says, “When you know what kind of society you need, then you know what kind of education should be provided for the children” Literally if you want to build a nonviolent society, then your education should be nonviolent.  Having an exploitative way of education system that is filled with violence and claiming to build a nonviolent society is mere cheating and victimizing the society.

People think, if nonviolent can work out today. I can see Morena as a symbol of nonviolence. It is a model of nonviolence. I take the lessons and faith of nonviolence from Morena. Yes, Nonviolence has changed the life of more than 500 dacoits whose life and livelihood were built every day in violence. Today the nonviolent action has brought peace in this society. Now, I can suggest nonviolence can work out even after 500 years.

Friends, I come from a city where Gandhiji gave up wearing shirt thereafter on seeing poor farmers and weavers who were poor to afford for clothing. Sharing the pain of the suffering community is true nonviolence. Making action to bring some positive impact on marginalized people using our education, wealth or whatever we have with us is nonviolence. Nonviolence is not just about speaking nonviolent things or nonviolent manner. It should come from the bottom of your heart. Nonviolence should prevail in your words, heart, action and perception.

Friends I would like to end my session with one last thing to share with you all. You would have seen a circus show sometime or at least in television. You can see a tiger following the commands of the ring master. It jumps of the fire ring and roams here and there corresponding to the commands of the master. The tiger before being brought up to the show should have been trained by undergoing lots of physical hardships and harassments. The tiger would success the training only when it forgets its natural behaviour. The tiger now resembles a tiger but actually not by its character. In some instance if the tiger shows its real nature during a show, it will be eventually shot dead.

Now, consider one thing. Our classrooms are the same. Our children are put between four walls and are being taught with some unwanted facts that are required by the future masters. In this practice, all the skills and natural thirsts of our children are wiped out cruelly. If the child does not reach out the demands of the system, then the child is eventually humiliated and harassed.

These are not the right way of education. Gandhiji made his own form of education and named it Nai Talim meaning New Education. His education system was filled with love and self-sustainability. Today we are forced to build such system that could fit this society and at same time should be based on love and nonviolence.

Thank you all for the wonderful opportunity.